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Non-Tech : Sotheby's (BID) Auction House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MJ who wrote (213)	6/16/1999 3:01:00 AM
From: Gustaf	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 236

WSJ article : Sothebys.amazon.com (Yeah baby !!) Amazon.com to Buy Stake in Sotheby's, Team Up on Online-Auction Service By GEORGE ANDERS and ALEXANDRA PEERS Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Amazon.com Inc. is investing $45 million to buy a 1.7% stake in Sotheby's Holdings Inc. and is teaming up to create an online auction service that will combine the two companies' respective expertise in fine art and e-commerce. The joint project pairs up two companies that a year ago would have been almost unimaginable as business allies. Sotheby's dates back to 1744 and is known for its multimillion-dollar auctions of renowned artworks and its highly educated, in-house experts on dozens of collecting specialties. Amazon was started just four years ago in Seattle; it sells millions of books, videos and music titles every quarter online. In the past year, though, both companies have been moving toward each other's specialty. Sotheby's has opened its own Web site with detailed information about its conventional auctions and has said that it wants to use the Internet as a direct-sales medium. Amazon, meanwhile, launched its own online auction service in April. While that service so far has concentrated on low-end items such as dolls, used books and Elmer Fudd pencil sharpeners, Amazon has indicated a desire to sell more expensive merchandise, too. Details of the joint project are due to be announced at a news conference Wednesday morning. Tuesday night, Amazon's chief executive officer, Jeff Bezos, was meeting in New York with Sotheby's officials to hammer out details of the alliance. Mr. Bezos and Diana D. Brooks, president and CEO of Sotheby's, said in a brief phone interview that the centerpiece of their alliance will be a jointly run Web site called sothebys.amazon.com. It will sell items such as rare coins and books, top-tier sports memorabilia and post-1945 collectibles, Ms. Brooks said. "If you want a first edition of John F. Kennedy's 'Profiles in Courage,'you'll go to sothebys.amazon.com," Ms. Brooks said. But she said Sotheby's will continue with plans this autumn to launch its own Web auction site, sothebys.com, which will emphasize the auction house's traditional strengths in paintings, decorative arts and antiques. "If you want a first edition of Jane Austin, you'll go to sothebys.com," Ms. Brooks noted. Mr. Bezos said he expects Amazon will benefit from its association with Sotheby's 500 experts and 2,800 art dealers. The joint Web site, he said, "has real potential to be the first auction site with guaranteed authentication." Until now, he said, people have been skittish about buying expensive items online, because they can't be certain that the actual item shipped will live up to its alluring description. In April, the Internet's leading online auction house, eBay Inc., agreed to buy a smaller, San Francisco auction house, Butterfield & Butterfield Auctioneers Corp., for about $260 million. At the time, eBay officials said they were especially interested in Butterfield's ability to appraise and authenticate a wide variety of collectibles. Meanwhile, Christie's International PLC, another leading auction house, has been slower to explore ways of doing business online. Mr. Bezos said Amazon is buying one million shares of Sotheby's Class A stock for about $35 million, in line with current market prices of about $35 a share. But he said Amazon also is paying $10 million for a three-year warrant that would let it buy a further one million shares for $100 apiece. Asked if he thinks there is much chance Sotheby's shares will rise enough to make that warrant valuable, Mr. Bezos said he has "great faith" in Sotheby's management team. Ms. Brooks said talks with Amazon began before eBay announced its deal. She also said that Amazon and Sotheby's may have more in common than outsiders realize. "We both got started as booksellers," she remarked. "It's just that we got started 251 years earlier."